While racing in Europe and North and South America throughout the 1950s, Carroll Shelby cherished one dream; building the world's fastest sportscar. By 1956 he had already come up with a name for his car, it would be named Cobra. Soon after his 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans victory for Aston Martin, Shelby was struck by heart problems. Reluctant to do so, he was forced to give up motor racing as a driver. This did give him time to make his dream come true.

Carroll Shelby is gone, but at least we can remember him by his work. This 1962 Shelby Cobra CSX200 is the epitome of all his motor racing ideas combined, combining big horsepower engines with inspired engineering.
Carroll Shelby is gone, but at least we can remember him by his work. This 1962 Shelby Cobra CSX200 is the epitome of all his motor racing ideas combined, combining big horsepower engines with inspired engineering.

Cobra was bought by Lloyd 'Lucky' Casner, Comoradi racing, to race at the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours. With the smaller V8 it did not prove competitive in practice, so it never ran and Casner sold it to Jean-Marie Vincent in France. By then the new 289 FIA cars were out, it was updated with a 289 engine and a rather odd looking one-off hardtop, which has thankfully disappeared. The only Cobra to enter the Tour de France, this Cobra was a very successful race car with many first place wins.